Children's Center Preschool Serving the Los Feliz, Hollywood, Silverlake , Atwater communities
  • Monthly Classroom Themes

  • Aug5

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    Preschool Outdoor “Construction Zone”

    Posted in: From the Director, Monthly Classroom Themes, Projects, emergent curriculum

    Life in the Construction Zone

    Life in “construction  zone”  of our preschool is an ever changing place.   There are  a wonderful array of  building materials andtools to choose, Sawhorse and big  2’ 6” by 3’ 6”, sheets of translucent plastic are fabulous for the creation of a house or a small city.  Add towels and food and a whole village comes alive.

    Moving boxes were perfect for the “burning” buildings the kids created after the fireman came to visit us.

    The smaller ones morphed into  a long train that “traveled” from  one grandparent’s house to another.  Everyone took a job, conductor, ticket taker, passenger. We add the train song , “A train is a comin’, Oh yeah” as it chugged along. Many days were spent hopping in their own train car and going on another trip.

    Trains haven’t been the only use for boxes. We looked over one day and noticed that  two empty boxes were wiggling  and some eyes were peeking out. The two box children ended up playing for a long time, sometimes tilting back their housing for some direct  conversation.

    A few months ago we added a set of grid builders that interconnect to make different shapes . They have mirrors, holes for shapes to fit through, windows, and holes to crawl through.   At first, they were used as paths and streets for the big vehicles but lately they have seen more use as  home builders.  Their advantage is that you can create connections between building.

    Our construction area has a full work table, filled with hammers, pliers, and screwdrivers and hard hats, yellow vests, and tool belts. The children enjoy putting together and taking apart not only the pretend buildings but also many things in the yard. Construction zone is one of the many areas of the preschool yard that provides children many opportunities to create and play out their great ideas.

  • Aug5

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    Science in our Preschool

    Posted in: Food and Cooking, Monthly Classroom Themes, The Garden, emergent curriculum, science

    The weather has continued to be gray and damp in the morning and our garden, it turns out, is feeling the effects of it. One of the children asked, “Why are the leaves getting all white?” A fellow gardening mom suspected powdery mildew but none of us really knew. So it was time for a trip to the Sunset Nursery in Los Feliz to learn what was causing our trouble. The weather turns out to be  the culprit; it allows the growth of  powdery mildew because the plants are getting too much mositure and not enough heat from the sun.

    Children observing the world around them, asking questions, creating hypotheses, and learning more is science in action in our preschool. Conversations about science are a daily occurrence. The garden is a regular source. But of course there are many other opportunities, both created by us and by nature and events, to learn about biology, physics, chemistry, and the physical world.

    The children began the year with an interest in bugs. First the scream, BUG, then some run away, but all return. Out come the magnifying glasses or the cups to hold the subjects, briefly. The dead ones get put in petri dishes and are saved for viewing under the big magnifying glass.

    Rocks have been another fascination. We have developed a good collection of rocks, crystals, and “gems” to look at, sort, and look up in our books. Using resources to learn more is a natural part of our investigations, be it the local nursery, a book, or a visiting expert ( see  article on crystals).

    Our spring was filled with butterflies and silkworms ( see earlier articles). Here we are launching the last of the cabbage white butterflies, that came from the caterpillars we found on our cabbage plants. Very big eaters, those cabbage whites.

    This summer we have been talking about the children’s trips to the beach. Ty created a pretend beach, complete with towels, sun glasses, stuffed marine life, hats, sandals, and shells. The shells were so beautiful to look at and everyone tried to hear the ocean in them. The science table offered a chance to explore a little further and match them to the ones in the book.

    Water has been another summer science investigation. Turkey basters pushing the water through tubes to learn about force or tubes held up high to learn how gravity works are very popular right now. Color experiments, tornadoes and fountains in a bottle, oceans in a bottle, and bubble blowing  give children lots of ways to consider the physics of water.

    Cooking  is another wonderful way we explore how the state of something can be changed, be it juicing lemons and making lemonade or creating popsicles from our juice.

    In a experiential school, children learn by exploring and  doing, asking questions, and learning more from the resources available. As teachers, it is a most exciting way to be with children, supporting and facilitating them as science discoveries become a  natural part of daily life.

  • Jul23

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    Water Play, Rainbows, & Curriculum

    Posted in: Monthly Classroom Themes, Projects, emergent curriculum, science

    How we take children’s interests and build our curriculum around them.

    The warm weather has come and water play is in full swing. From the hose in the 8 tons of sand sandbox to the colored bottles on the science table, water is providing our children with hours of  great fun and many valuable lessons. Our preschool curriculum often develops around what is relevant and interesting to children; two things that are especially interesting right now are water and rainbows and their  colors.

    Below, you can get a glimpse of how we follow through with children’s ideas ; hopefully it will offer  you some insight into how we integrate children’s interests into our curriculum over the areas of:

    • science,
    • art,
    • literacy,
    • fine motor activities,
    • sensory activities.

    Rainbow interest began, in part,  when we read Hawaii is a Rainbow by Stephanie Feeney, a beautiful book about Hawaii and its fabulous colors. Here are some of  the exciting things that happened after that.

    The children  made bottles of water to have all of the colors of the rainbow. We put them in the window with pictures of real rainbows.

    • We got out  the eyedroppers ( good small motor activity) to create rainbows and color designs on paper towels.
    • That led to experimenting with the eyedroppers on different paper, including waxed paper, to see what happened.
    • We layered tissue paper to create colors and see how colors changed.
    • Out came the computer so we could  look at many different pictures of rainbows and talked about how they are made. We looked for the their pattern of color with a question in mind, “Do they always go red, orange, yellow, green, blue violet.” Yes! I showed the children the picture I took last Thanksgiving of a double rainbow that had a double thickness of the colors. Amazing!
    • We read a  poem about rainbows.

    My heart leaps when I behold

    A rainbow in the sky

    William Wordsworth

    • On the “pretend you are at the beach day”, one of the children discovered that if you wear sunglasses with red lenses, the color of things around you change color. Everyone had to try that out.
    • So we added the new colored paddles with red, yellow, and blue color gels for exploring how the things in the classroom look and if they change color.
    • Outside, we set out  watercolor, tempura paint, and spray bottles filled with water and  colored paint for art exploration.
    • Colored water was set out for experimenting and mixing; could  new colors be created.
    • The water table was filled with colored water, tubes, and funnels. It was great fun to watch as the color water passed through the tubes and then mixed with the other color.
    • We talked about the physics of force and pressure  as the water was pushed by the turkey basters through the tubes and  funneled into bottles.

    • We used big water  bottles with  special connectors to create both fountain and tornado effects. Over and over the bottles were turned upside down to see the water create the vortex or send a fountain up the tube.
    • A third bottle was  made mixing mineral  oil, water, and food coloring; they gave it a good  shake  and watched the oil and water combine, then separate.
    • Someone asked what it would be like to mix food coloring with sand or salt, so we tried it out  to see what happens. The colors weren’t as clear as expected; the white salt did better than the beige sand.
    • Using glue bottles and paper, the children made designs and sprinkled on the new colored sand and salt.
    • One day, the inside tables were filled with children making flubber in a rainbow of colors. They stretched and pulled them into different shapes.

    Our water and color exploration will continue along side  other curriculum ideas. Gravity looks like the next area of interest as the children were trying out a rain gutter in the big sandbox and tilting it to see what happens. Ramps for the cars and trucks will likely be very popular. Sinking and floating are also likely to be of interest when we introduce them. We will make a chart of what sinks and what floats just the way we did when we figured about what was attracted to magnets and what wasn’t.

    And so it goes in preschool as one idea leads to the next. There is always something interesting to explore and to write and read about and to create in art.

  • May20

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    The Bug Fair Provided Great Specimens

    Posted in: Monthly Classroom Themes

    The Bug Fair last weekend at the Natural History Museum was a happy hunting ground for Ty. Armed with a list from the children and her own special interests, Ty spent Sunday gathering wonderful specimens for the kids.

    As the children came in to the classroom, silkworms greeted them from their mulberry leaves. They were busily munching and, it turns out, they eat alot.  With their hand magnifiers and gentle touch, the children watched and explored as the worms ate, pooped, and slept. Everyone laughed at their sleeping position, laid out flat with their head lifted up. We tried to do that  but it’s hard to do for very long. Over the next two days, the worms ate their way through many leaves and they have grown bigger. Even though we have a big bag of leaves in the refrigerator to keep them happy, we may be out searching for a mulberry tree in Griffith Park that I heard about years ago. We expect them to move into our caterpillar’s old home in about two weeks to create their cocoons.

    The other table held a wonderful array of beetles and butterflies mounted for viewing. After lots of looking, the children used the drawing tools to create their own bug display. Representing what they see in drawing is an important developmental step for 3-5 year olds. When a child substitutes an image for a real thing, she is developing the skills to understand representational and symbolic language in written form.  Early man started with petroglyphs to share how he saw the natural world. Over time, a symbolic language was created to share these complex images and ideas. When, as teachers, we label the drawings, we are helping the child to complete the link between  the real object, the representation of it , and the symbolic language that stands for it.

    A delightful book about ants was read at circle, Bug Safari by Bob Barner (2004). The story is about a little boy who follows the travels ( safari) of ants on their way to somewhere unknown; he is on his way back to a base camp and a picnic. As the ants encounter many different terrains,bugs, and small animals along the way, the ant population does get a bit smaller. But the boy is surprised to find that the ants and he are both going to the same picnic all along. And the ants are invited!

    Circle ended with a march of children( from a book The Ants Go Marching by Berniece Freschet ( 1973)) pretending to be ants, munching, crunching, climbing, hunching down, and meeting other bugs as they made their way to their own ant hill home.

  • May18

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    At Last, the Crystals Grew

    Posted in: Monthly Classroom Themes, science

    After John Gibbon came and shared his wonderful crystals, the children mixed up two batches of crystal making liquid. The first was a saturated brew of sugar and warm water, stirred until no sugar remained undissolved. The second was warm water and salt. We poured them into clear containers and waited for the crystals to grow. And waited. And waited, And waited. Periodically, one of the children would look at us and announce, it still just looks like water. Are they really going to grow crystals? The first encouraging sign came at the bottom of the salt crystal container.Hard to see with the naked eye, but we could see them with the hand magnifier, crystals. Very encouraging. Over the days, as we talked about evaporation, the crystals grew. The sugar crystals came together more dramatically; once they got going, there were some good sized chunks of crystals to see. So we are happy to announce- We Have Crystals!

  • May11

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    The Garden Journal Continued

    Posted in: From the Director, Monthly Classroom Themes, The Garden

    While the nights are still cool, the weather seems to be changing now. The kids are arriving in layers of clothes and as the day warms up, the layers come off and the water tables fill up. All of our garden seed packets say “plant when the evening temperatures stay above 50 degrees and the days are warm”.

    Perfect! It is time for us to plant. The green beans and the English cucumbers were the most fun because the children used their fingers to poke holes in the ground, put one seed in , and cover it up. The trellises that we used for the peas are ready for them. We continued to poke holes to plant the nasturtiums, plants we hope will spill down from our big containers and fill the yard with yellow, ruby , and rust flowers. The cherry tomato plant goes in this afternoon; it already has some flowers, a tomato eager to spread its seed.

    We have a packet of baby pumpkins that should be so fun when they ripen in the fall. 10 little fingers can push the dirt up into a hill and put in the  5 seeds. We will thin it to one plant; it should love the heat of our garden area.

    The lemon is finally looking like a real lemon tree. It had so many bad experiences being eaten by deer in my garden. It must be thrilled to finally get to grow. We are checking for flowers and the start of lemons.

    Watering is a daily activity. Without the children’s water, they will quickly wilt. The children are learning to check to see if the plants need them..

    The birds are waiting for me to stop writing and refill their feeder. We have five different kinds of birds and there is an unending parade of hungry eaters. At first the children noticed them every time they arrived, but like anything that happens all the time, it takes a good noise from one of them or a disagreement to get the kids’ attention. The children have watched as the birds learn how to wait on the fence and the wall until it is their turn. “Just like our waiting chair” some one announced.

    The birds are calling and the watering is not yet done; I have the good fortune of going back into the garden again.

  • Mar17

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    Family Green Morning!

    Posted in: Family events, Monthly Classroom Themes, Projects

    This St. Patrick’s Day, the parents and children joined together in another family gathering, the kind we have every month or so. We began the morning dressed in green and sampling kiwi, green grapes, and honey dew melon. Leaves in different shades of green were painted and added to our “classroom tree”; that tree mirrors our deciduous outside tree that burst into leaf this week. We also made wonderful “green ” collages using the recycled materials.

    The ending was a great retelling of Green Eggs and Ham. Each child chose a book page representing one of the items in the book- a fox, a box, a mouse,a house, etc. and the parents were the “Greek”chorus- “I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them Sam I Am”. Regular family gatherings give parents a shared school experience  with their child and create opportunities for parents to know each other better. This sense of  shared community is an important part of our school.

  • Mar4

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    Fire fighters & their truck visit our preschool

    Posted in: Monthly Classroom Themes, Weekly Happenings in the School

    Today was very exciting at the preschool- the fire truck and the fire fighters came to visit. We had been planning for a visit from the fire department and were ready with our questions. For example, How do you come into a building when it is on fire? Why do you have a bell at the station? Does your dog, Sparky, save the animals?

    They arrived at 10 am with the hose truck and 4 fire fighters. First, they showed us how they suit up and prepare to go into a fire. The fire fighter added his oxygen tank and face mask and became unrecognizable. He told the kids  that if they ever saw him like this in a fire that he was there to help them. He reminded them not to run away from them and to yell for help so he could hear them. Read More | Comments

  • Mar3

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    A Doctor in the House

    Posted in: Monthly Classroom Themes, Weekly Happenings in the School

    This week has seen a lot of activity in the “doctor’s office”.

    Numerous patients in the form of bears, dolls, children and teachers have been given medical attention and good care. The children have acted out  many of their  experiences using stethoscopes, reflex hammers, bandages, and thermometers and talked about shots, check ups, sick grandparents, and worries about someone dying. We also enjoyed  the doctor who listened to my complaint of a broken ankle and then announced sadly that her office didn’t fix ankles so I would have to hop across the street to a different hospital.(Health care reform, anyone?)

  • Feb18

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    Post office & Doctors-Children’s Life & Community

    Posted in: Monthly Classroom Themes, Weekly Happenings in the School

    Valentine’s Day was the natural beginning to a study of the post office and mail delivery. So we set up a mini post office with a mail slot for each child. Children wrote cards and letters, drawings and designs; they delivered them to each other. 

    Our favorite book was The Giant Hug, in which a hug is delivered across the country by the many workers (as cute animals) at the post office. Letter writing will remain a part of our curriculum throughout the year.

    We are moving now to doctors and hospitals.  Several of our children and their family members have been ill, seen the doctor,  and had tests. Our curriculum often emerges from the children lives and interests. Our  housekeeping/dramatic play area will be partially converted into a doctor’s office/ hospital. Through their play, our children will work through their experiences and their worries. As we read books and tell stories, we will give  our children information to help them make sense of those experiences.

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